My Grandparents grew up in the hills of Pennsylvania and lived very close to the Amish in the Pennsylvania Dutch areas. They eventually moved to New Jersey, and I now live in Kentucky with my 95-year-old Granny. She lost her husband, whom we called “Pop,” two years ago.

My Grandmother loves her sweets so I bake for her often. She grew up in and around her grandparents very large wholesale and retail bakery and candy and ice cream store called Eisenhower’s. Some of her favorite memories came from her time there. Sadly, her memories are becoming fewer because of Alzheimer’s Disease.

I was fortunate to find my Granny’s handwritten recipe book while unpacking her things when she came to live under my care almost five years ago.

There were a few shoofly pie recipes in the book, as it was my Pop’s absolute favorite. The recipe I’ve submitted is the one I like the best. You’ll see in the recipe card above that Grandma noted it was a recipe from her sister-in-law, Ann’s, mother.

I would guess this recipe is about 80-years-old or more. But it is a classic and delicious. Shoofly pie is something I grew up on and it is one of my favorite pies when served with vanilla ice cream.

I did not submit a picture of myself, but I did submit one of my Granny. She is a woman of God and the most grateful person I have ever met in my life. Even with her illness, she still manages to thank me and my husband daily for attending to her needs. And she is especially grateful when there is pie involved. 🙂

Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes. Don’t over bake as this is a wet bottom shoe fly pie. It should be very moist.

Chris Meyer lives in Kentucky and is a full time caregiver to her 95-year-old grandmother, Evelyn. She also has a freelance photography business called Memories by Chris and specializes in equine photos, portraits, weddings and food photography. She spends her days on her small farm with her husband Bob, who helps with caregiver duties while Chris travels for work. The Meyer farm has two horses, three dogs, four cats, two tropical birds, chickens and ducks. Farm life is what makes Chris the happiest. Some of Chris’s favorite Amish authors include Suzanne Woods Fisher, Cindy Woodsmall, Tricia Goyer and Lynda Byler.

You’ve probably heard a lot about the big Amish settlements–Lancaster County and Holmes County and the northern Indiana Amish community, to name a few. But do you know some of the other places Old Order Amish can be found across America?

I’ve been visiting Amish communities since 2004, and keep a running tally of the places I’ve been. Ten years later, it’s up to 53 communities. I always seem to find something interesting about each new settlement, whether it’s a neat business, an unusual accent, or an odd style of buggy.

Here are some things you might not know about the 400+ places the Amish call home:

Amish live in 30 states. There are Amish communities in Colorado and West Virginia and Maine. You’ll even find Amish in Florida, Texas, and Montana.

There are no Amish communities outside the US and Canada. Though the Amish came from Europe, none have lived there since the 1930s.

Either Pennsylvania or Ohio has the largest Amish population. Estimates are so similar it’s probably too close to call. According to Elizabethtown College’s Amish Studies website, over 65,000 Amish live in either state.

The largest Amish community in the South? That depends what you consider the South. Ethridge, Tennessee, home to around 1500 Amish, may be the largest. But if Kentucky or southern Missouri count as “Southern,” then it’s probably in one of those states (either Munfordville, KY, or Seymour, MO).

Some of the places Amish live have neat names (I am a map nerd, so bear with me). Amish live in places like Beeville in Bee County (Texas), Philadelphia (a town in New York), Lucknow (Ontario) and Fertile (in northern Minnesota–and in my opinion the “perfect” Amish place name 🙂 ).

States with a single Amish community include North Carolina, Delaware, Mississippi and Idaho. Some of those are brand-new (Idaho’s sole settlement started in 2012), some have been around awhile (the Dover, DE community turns 100 next year).

Photo by Cindy Cornett Seigle

The oldest surviving Amish community is in Lancaster County. The next two oldest are also in Pennsylvania (Somerset County and Mifflin County).

Amish of different affiliations may live in the same community. You see this in Holmes County, Ohio, home to four major Amish groups, or in Mifflin County, PA’s Big Valley settlement, where three distinct groups live. The different Amish affiliations interact to different degrees; some are more traditional, others more progressive.

With large families typical, Amish are growing at a rapid rate. And they’re moving. According to one Ohio State study, a new Amish settlement is gained about once every 4-and-a-half weeks.

The most scenic Amish community? Okay, this one is much more opinion than “fact.” =) My own short list includes Lancaster County, Rexford, Montana, and Parke County, Indiana (where you’ll find the greatest number of covered bridges in America). Which do you think it is?

Questions? Know something interesting about an Amish community? Let us know, or ask your questions, in the comments section below!

Erik Wesner writes about the Amish in print and online. His first book, Success Made Simple: An Inside Look at Why Amish Businesses Thrive was based on 60 interviews Erik conducted with Amish business owners, as well as his own experiences living and working in Amish communities from Pennsylvania to Iowa. He has contributed to Amish-themed articles featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and other print media. He also has served as a consultant for numerous authors of Amish fiction and non-fiction and writes the Amish America blog. His upcoming book is called 50 Fascinating Amish Facts.

When readers and tourists alike think of Ohio’s Amish Country they usually think of Sugarcreek, Walnut Creek, or Berlin. But I cherish some of the lesser known, small towns like Shreve and Fredericksburg, the settings for my latest release, A Plain Man. Located in the heart of Wayne County, Ohio, these two towns are loaded with Amish buggies in a far less “touristy” atmosphere. Every time I’m in Shreve I dine at Des Dutch Essenhaus where the food is cooked and served by Mennonite and Amish women, and plenty of Amish-made crafts are for sale in the gift shop. Oh, and be sure to try Lem’s Pizza.

My friend Diane and Rex Dye own the lovely Homestead Christian Bookstore loaded with both fiction and non-fiction, along with a fine assortment of homeschooling materials. While you’re in town, be sure to also stop in at the hardware store for a selection of gadgets not found in your local big-box store.

In Fredericksburg you’ll find a wonderful bike trail, converted from an old rail line that ran from Cleveland to Millersburg. I’ve sent many friends down to the Millersburg Hotel to spend the night and then ride up to Fredericksburg through the rural countryside. Besides exercising Englischers, you’ll see plenty of Plain folks, both walking and riding the trail for a safe transportation route.

Also in Fredericksburg, look for the tiny, historic jailhouse. Once I found the door unlocked so I moseyed in, sat on the one cot in the one cell, and pretended I’d been arrested for disturbing the peace on a Saturday night. Although the wife of the mayor or sheriff no longer delivers home cooked meals to the inmates, you still can savor a place where time has stood still.

In my book, A Plain Man, Caleb Beachy returns to the quiet serenity of Wayne County to heal his emotional wounds and rebuild his relationship with God. For myself I reconnect with the slow, the simple, and the straightforward every time I visit Shreve and Fredericksburg, Ohio. I hope you enjoy these photos taken in the area.

Mary Ellis has written twelve bestselling novels set in the Amish community. Before “retiring” to write full-time, Mary taught school and worked as a sales rep for Hershey Chocolate. Living in Harmony, book one of her last series won the 2012 Lime Award for Excellence in Amish Fiction. Love Comes to Paradise won the 2013 Lime Award. Her most recent release A Plain Man hit stores in April of 2014.

Katy Yoder skimmed a white-gloved finger across the edge of the fireplace mantel. The holiday decorations, such extravagance forbidden at her own home, slowed her task. It wasn’t just the matter of working around them; it was the assessing of them. Feeling a bit like Cinderella at the ball, she swiped her feather duster, easing it around the angel figurines and Christmas garland. A red plastic berry bounced to the floor, and she stooped to retrieve it, poking it back into place with care.

Her mother, like most members of her Mennonite congregation, shunned such frivolity. Gabriel of the Bible, the angel who visited the Virgin Mary, probably looked nothing like these gilded collectibles. Nevertheless, the manger scene caused warm puddles to pool deep inside her heart, a secret place of confusing desires that she kept properly disguised, covered with her crisp white blouse and ever-busy hands.

The pine-scented tree occupying the corner of the room moved her with wonder. Not the ornaments, but the twinkling white lights, little dots of hope. The cheery music jingling in the background was not forbidden. She mouthed the words to “Silent Night.” In December they often sang the hymn at her meetinghouse. But her singing was interrupted mid-stanza as her employer’s gravelly voice brought her out of her reverie. Instinctively, she lowered her arm and whirled.

Mr. Beverly’s lips thinned and his white mustache twitched. “Katy. We need to talk.” Bands of deep wrinkles creased his forehead. “I have bad news,” he said. His petite wife stood at his side, twisting her diamond ring.

Apprehension marched up Katy’s neck. Could it be a terminal illness? In their late seventies, the couple kept active for their age, always off on golfing vacations. Katy had grown fond of them. Smiles softened their conversation, and their hands were quick to hand her trusted keys and gifts. They even bought her a sweater for her birthday, made from some heavenly soft fabric. Katy gripped the duster’s handle with both hands. “Oh?”

“We’re going to have to let you go.”

Her jaw gaped. Never had she expected such news. “But. . .but I thought you were pleased.” Her mind scrambled for some slipup, some blunder.

Dianne Christner writes light-hearted Christian Fiction. After writing historical fiction for Barbour Books since 1994, they recently published her Mennonite three-book compilation called The Plain City Bridesmaids. It has been on the EPCA Bestsellers list since its April 1st release. Raised Mennonite and having Amish relatives—her grandfather was a preaching Beachy-Amish bishop and her husband’s parents were once Amish—she brings authenticity to her Amish fiction. She now worships at Christ Church of the Valley—a nondenominational church.

Dianne resides in Phoenix, Arizona, with her husband of forty-one years. They have two married children and five grandchildren. She says, “Writing is a lonely job so I LOVE reader interaction.”

Don’t forget that our Saturday posts are the place to find out whether or not you’ve won something in the previous week from our Amish Wisdom authors.

And why don’t you share a link to Amish Wisdom on your social media pages this weekend? Chances are some of your friends also love Amish fiction and would love to hear from their favorite authors next week.

When I was a mother to four small children, we’d all jump into the minivan and visit the nearby Amish of Cherry Creek, NY. Why were all four kids so cooperative in getting into that van? Because of the Amish treats and goodies sold along the way at roadside stands.

One day, I got up the nerve to ask for a recipe from an Amish woman. I told her my kids love her baked goods, but as for making them from scratch? Well, I made a cake from scratch once and not even the dog would eat it. No kidding. Elizabeth told me I needed to make Cinnamon Flop, the fast way to make cinnamon rolls. She said it was “flop-proof,” and able to be made in a jiffy.

After I tried it the first time, I felt like screaming, “Touchdown!” I could bake like the Amish!

Over the years, I’ve found that asking Amish women for recipes is a real gateway into forming lasting relationships. The Amish are proud of their baked goods and will chatter on about other recipes, drink mixes and before you know it, you’re sitting at their kitchen table over a cup of tea.

Having lived near the Amish in New York for ten years and now near a settlement in Smicksburg, PA, I have so many recipes, I could write a cookbook! Instead, I sprinkle these recipes throughout my Amish Knitting Circle books in the Smicksburg Tales series. In the first book, there are over thirty recipes, and yes, Cinnamon Flop is the first!

Cinnamon Flop

3 tablespoons melted butter or margarine

1 1/2 cups sugar 2 eggs, well beaten

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup milk

1 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup butter

Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375° F. Cream butter with sugar. Beat in eggs. Sift flour with baking powder and add alternately with the milk. Pour into a well-buttered 9-inch deep pie plate or 8 x 8 inch square baking dish. Sprinkle top with brown sugar, dot with butter, and sprinkle with lots of ground cinnamon. Bake for approximately 30 minutes.

Karen Anna Vogel has worn many hats: stay-at-home mom to four kids, homeschool veteran, entrepreneur, substitute teacher and wife to Tim for 33 years. Writing has always been a constant passion, so Karen was thrilled to meet her literary agent, Joyce Hart, in a bookstore…gabbing about Amish fiction. After her kids flew the coop, she delved into writing, and nine books later, she’s passionate about portraying the Amish and small town life in a realistic way, many of her novels based on true stores. She is also a top 100 Amazon Author in the religion and spirituality sections. Her latest Kindle release is The Herbalist’s Daughter. Living in rural, PA, she writes about all the beauty around her: rolling hills, farmland, and the sound of buggy wheels.
She’s a graduate from Seton Hill University (psych & education) and Andersonville Theological Seminary (Masters in Biblical Counseling). In her spare time she enjoys knitting, birding, photography, homesteading, and watching/reading anything Jane Austen.

Today is the last day for submissions to the Amish Wisdom Cook’s Corner Recipe Contest!

Submit your Amish recipe to info@amishwisdom.com and you might see your creation featured in the Amish Wisdom Cook’s Corner on July 18th!

In order for your submission to be considered, please include your full name and at least one high resolution picture of your dish. You may also include a picture of yourself and up to 5 pictures of your dish. We’ll accept submissions through July 11th. And please let us know what your favorite Amish fiction book is when you email.

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When I wrote the Amish-American novel The Face of Heaven, which takes place during the Civil War, I had my heroine nurse wounded soldiers on the battlefield despite the discomfort her Amish family and community felt about it. In The Wings of Morning, my Amish heroine received permission from her bishop to nurse the sick and dying during the influenza pandemic of 1918 and 1919. When I wrote the holiday novella An Amish Family Christmas, I had a young Amish man return to his community to face rejection after serving as a medic in Afghanistan. Healthcare and the Amish, especially healthcare practiced under stressful conditions, has always been a topic that fascinated me.

Some readers think the Amish shun modern healthcare for poultices of mustard and horseradish but this isn’t the case. Amish communities have all sorts of natural remedies they resort to, no doubt about that, and there are people within their churches who tend to the sick and dying. But most Amish have good healthcare plans and they go to their physicians, take prescribed medications, have checkups, and undergo cancer treatments and surgeries just like the rest of us. And few of them were affected by the tug of war over Obamacare waged in Washington simply because they had those good healthcare plans in place. That’s not an issue. What is an issue is healthcare in the ER, in particular the war zone ER.

It was a little over a year ago that Suzanne had me on Amish Wisdom with two Canadian Hutterites and this very topic came up. The Hutterites are named after Jacob Hutter, a contemporary of Menno Simons, who was burned at the stake in 1536. Jacob Amman, who founded the Amish movement, lived and died two hundred years after Hutter, but since the two Jacobs are both Anabaptists they share many of the same beliefs, one of the foremost of which is no enlistment in the military, no participation in law enforcement.

I argued for Hutterite men and women saving lives on the battlefield by serving as doctors, RNs, and medics or corpsmen. The Hutterites would not budge, particularly the woman. Even saving lives on the battlefield contributed to the war effort. I had the same discussion-debate with some Amish I know and got the same response. I totally respect the non-violent approach to life of the Amish, it is a blessed ingredient in the mix of American and Canadian life. But to save lives by medical means without bearing a gun, the same way medicine is practiced in America to save the lives of Amish and others, still seems to me a sacred and holy thing that the Amish and their bishops ought to be able to embrace.

So I took this debate with the Amish into my books where I am still arguing for Amish involvement in the healing arts of healthcare, on or off the battlefield. Perhaps one day a bishop somewhere will be persuaded and allow some of his people to go into a war zone, in Christ’s name, and bring as many soldiers as possible out of it alive.

Murray Andrew Pura was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and has traveled extensively throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Ordained as a Baptist minister in 1986, Pura has served five churches in Canada and headlined numerous speaking engagements in Canada and the United States. He has published over a dozen books, was a contributor to the Life With God Bible, has been a finalist for The Paraclete Fiction Award, The Dartmouth Book Award, and The John Spencer Hill Literary Award, and has been shortlisted for the prestigious 2010 Kobzar Literary Award of Canada.

Q. I would love to spend time with an Amish family. Are there any communities or families that let people stay with them for a weekend or a week?

~Valerie Kresse

A. There are some places in Holmes County, Ohio and Lancaster, Pennsylvania where people can visit an Amish home and enjoy a meal and buggy rides. There are also a few Amish bed and breakfasts out there as well. To simply find an Amish family to stay with in order to experience their life is harder, unless you are friends with them first.

Whether you’re a quilt-maker looking for new techniques or traditional patterns, a weekend woodcarver wanting to see how the masters do it, a cook (or food taster) seeking out wonderful, mouth-watering recipes, or a novelist or songwriter in search of a good tale, Shipshewana, Indiana has it all. And with summer in full swing, things are jumping in this quaint Amish town.

A visit here has to start out with a stop at Menno-Hof (I’ve been numerous times and learn something new about the history of the Amish and Mennonites each time).

Photo credit: Andrew Rohrer

If you like to shop, there are plenty of places to satisfy that desire. Shipshewana has plenty of quaint shops, general stores, and handmade quilt and furniture showrooms.

Photo credit: Andrew Rohrer

Photo credit: Andrew Rohrer

The Shipshewana Quilt Festival was on June 25-28 this year, and quilt patterns can also be seen year-round in the town’s Quilt Gardens, which are beautifully spread out at different locations throughout the area.

Photo credit: Andrew Rohrer

All that shopping always makes me hungry, and good food is never far away when you’re in Shipshewana. It’s hard to beat The Blue Gate Restaurant’s fried chicken or sugar crème pie, Rolling Dough’s doughnuts, and all the other restaurants and eateries in town.

If you’re lucky enough to catch the antique market, the horse auction, or any of the street fairs (including the Flea Market with over 900 vendors), you’re in for a treat. I love going to the auctions and listening to the cadence of the auctioneer.

Photo credit: Andrew Rohrer

Photo credit: Andrew Rohrer

Photo credit: Andrew Rohrer

Photo credit: Andrew Rohrer

Other activities to do while in Shipshewana are visiting a cheese factory, going for a ride in a horse and buggy, eating dinner in an Amish home, and taking in a show, from the special concerts at the Shipshewana Event Center (featuring such artists as Kenny Rogers, The Oak Ridge Boys, Pat Boone, and more) to Broadway style, faith-based musicals at The Blue Gate Theater (The Confession, Half-Stitched, and the newest musical, Josiah for President, opening July 14th and running through mid-December.

Photo credit: Andrew Rohrer

Photo credit: Andrew Rohrer

Before you leave, be sure to spend a day driving around and taking in the beauty of the Shipshewana countryside, and hopefully meeting some of the locals. I guarantee it’ll take you back to a time when the pace was a lot slower, technology wasn’t so intrusive in our lives, and common sense wasn’t nearly so rare.

Nothing wrong with that.

Martha Bolton is the author of 87 books, including her newest, Josiah for President, which has now been adapted into a play at the Blue Gate Theater. She was a staff writer for Bob Hope for fifteen years, and received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Music and Lyrics. She has also written for dozens of comedians and entertainers, including Phyllis Diller, Wayne Newton, and Mark Lowry. Her popular series of books for middle-agers (Didn’t My Skin Used to Fit?, Cooking With Hot Flashes, and others) have addressed the subject of growing older in a fun and fresh way.

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